1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for accessing information from an electronic post office system and, in preferred embodiments, using HyperText Markup Language (HTML) templates to generate and display post office information.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic post office system maintained within a network file server allows multiple computer users linked to the network file server to transmit electronic messages to each other. A message is the basic unit of exchange in the post office system. A message can include file attachments such as text, graphics, sounds, binary files, electronic forms, fax pages or any other data objects. The post office is the central repository for all messages and is typically implemented in a database system in the network file server. The post office has a mail directory, which lists all the people, post offices and gateways for message exchange. Each user maintains an individual mailbox within the post office system, which might include a folder for incoming messages, drafts of text messages not yet sent, a log of sent messages, trash folders for deleted messages, and folders for saved messages. Each user in the post office system has an assigned name which is used to identify and route mail to the user.
FIG. 1 illustrates how client computers 2a, 2b access a post office system 4 within a server computer 6 via a network connection 8 (e.g., LAN, WAN, etc.). FIG. 2 illustrates how a computer 10 at a remote location can connect to a post office system 20 via a TCP/IP connection 12 and the Internet 14. The post office system 20 is included in a server 16 which runs a mail protocol 18. A mail protocol is used to regulate communication between the client computer and the post office system. Protocols which regulate the flow of messages to a post office system via the Internet include the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3), the Internet Message Access Protocol version 4 (IMAP4), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), the proprietary Lotus cc:Mail Router protocol. etc. Both the client and post office system must use compatible protocols. For instance, software programs such as Netscape Navigator, Eudora Pro, and Microsoft Internet Explorer include the POP3 protocol, thereby allowing a client computer running these programs to access a post office system compatible with POP3.
In prior art electronic post office systems, client computers at remote location must include software compatible with the protocol and the post office system in order to communicate with the post office. If a user at a remote location did not have such special purpose software, then the user would not be able to access the post office. Moreover, in prior art post office systems, post office system software cannot be easily edited to change the presentation of mail box information. Most network administrators would not be able to readily edit the files provided with proprietary post office system software to alter how mail box information is displayed or create new display formats. Such difficulties inhibit network administrators from tailoring the presentation of post office information to the organizational needs.
Many computer application have user interfaces generated with templates coded in the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). HTML is not a computationally complete language as HTML does not include any method for branching, such as loops and conditional statements. This limitation in the HTML language further inhibits network administrators from tailoring user interfaces generated with HTML code to the organizational needs.